History to Be Made as Democrats Stand to Successfully Avoid a Filibuster!

Later today the United States Senate—the least-worst chamber of Congress—will vote to begin a debate that could lead to a vote! It is historic. Thanks to a rare outbreak of competence, Democrats have convinced enough Republicans to hold off on filibustering the discussion on gun-control legislation, clearing the way for a bill to fail in the Senate or—fingers crossed!—ultimately die in the House.

“Prospects for clearing the bill from the Senate floor were boosted by a deal on background checks to gun purchases announced Wednesday by Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Joe Manchin (D-WV),” The Hillreports. Said deal “would expand background checks to cover all sales at gun shows and over the Internet” but would “exempt gun sales and transfers between friends and acquaintances without the help of an online intermediary.”

The National Rifle Association and its gang of purchased politicians argue that background checks are bad because. . . they do not prevent criminals from illegally purchasing guns. Note that this is actually an argument for more gun regulation. Or, to put it in terms of the “War on Drugs”: the marijuana lobby convinces a plurality of Senate Republicans that drug-sniffing dogs don’t detect people smuggling drugs who are really really good at smuggling drugs. Instead of training more dogs or training existing dogs in different ways, the Senate votes to abolish federal drug-sniffing dog programs as they are a violation of Freedom.